changes...

WOW!! Once again I have gotten behind on my blog, but this time I have several good reasons why.

Without going into too much detail I will just list the major changes going on in the Stukas house. 

• Jason received a promotion!!! This also meant relocation from Houston to DFW
• Relocation also meant that I left my hospital in Houston and went back to work for THR system, but at a new hospital
• After living out of a hotel, then a bigger hotel, & then a two bedroom apartment we finally closed on our first house
• The boys started at a new school this year Brock 5th grade & Brant 4th grade
• Allie started a new preschool three days a week from 830-2 or if mom is dropping off 9-2 :)

2013 brought many changes for our family. While at times it was hard everyone handled it very well and the payoff has been great!

9 months

Lillian Grace is 9 months old!!

Lillian is such a sweet and happy baby. I could write all day about her, but for this momma's time I am just going to do a quick update and pictures :)

weight& height: ??    haven't had a doctor appointment yet

clothes: 18-24 months

shoes: what are those?

crawling: not yet, but she can get anywhere by scooting.

naps: two to three times a day. usually a short morning, longer afternoon and then very short (30min) in the evening

nighttime: Lilly used to sleep through the night, but with the introduction of teeth things have changed

bottles/cups: she still doesn't take a bottle very well, but she can hold her own cup

food: she now eats pea sized bites of several different foods and still baby food

favorite foods: avocado, green beans, peas, squash, sweet potatoes

teeth: she is now the proud owner of three bottom teeth and three top teeth. I will say she worked hard for those teeth and now uses them on anything and everything!!

favorite games: peek-a-boo, bath time, books, and anything with her brothers & sisters

 She loves to swing just like her big sister

 One of our sleepless nights when she was sick/teething

 My all time favorite picture!!

 Mom look, I made it to the kitchen

Wow, time has flown by and we are enjoying every minute of it!!

 

 

 

 

 

Over the Edge Preteen Camp

The boys spent the last days of July and the first days of August at camp. They went with Dogwood to Pine Cove camp. This was Brock's second year to attend and Brant's first year. While Brock was very excited to go Brant had mixed emotions. This is to be expected from any kid going to camp the for the first time. I can say that I was very much at ease for several reasons: I went to the same campsite when I was a teenage, I know all of the leaders going with "our" church, the camp director if our former children's minister, and our good friends serve as the camp nurse and a boy leader!! I could sleep easy at night and so could the boys. I didn't receive ONE phone call from a home-sick child, not ONE.

 This is the group of boys in their cabin

 Another picture of the boys before lunch

FUN TIMES!

 

I am thankful for a job that can help provide for our family and at the same time offers a lot of flexibility. I was able to join the boys for the last worship/award ceremony of camp. And let me tell you, "It was awesome!" There was loud music, dancing, great closing, and an entire chapel full of boys and girls with their hearts on fire for Jesus.

This next picture blows me away. My boys and their cabin mates won the Golden Toilet Trophy for the CLEANIST cabin. Notice it at the bottom of the pic? How does this not happen at home??

The next picture is of my sweet Brant.

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

8 months

 Isn't she lovely!!

 Lillian Grace turned 8 months old!!

She continues to be a delight to us. She brings balance to our family.

Lilly hasn't stepped  sat on the scale recently, but I would guess she weighs close to 26 or 27 pounds. She is still wearing size 18 months and occasionally 24 months. She has mastered sitting up, rolling over, and she will now crawfish, push herself backwards, around the play mat. I really think she will be going crawling forwards by 9 months.  

 This swing is getting too small and will soon be returned to be used by her soon to be cousin. 

See my big baby girl in the park swing! She wasn't too sure of it yet. Notice all the pony tail?

Lilly still nurses to get most of her nourishment. She has started to eat organic oatmeal cereal almost daily and she finished a jar of baby food each of the last two days!! She likes sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, peas, and avocados. She has tried banana and prunes a few times without much luck. She still hasn't had any more teeth break through since her two bottoms ones came at 5 1/2 months.

She takes a small nap in the morning followed by a long afternoon nap and then a catnap at night. Her crib is in our room and lately she thinks it is better to sleep in our bed rather than hers :) 

4th of July

I enjoy every holiday, but 4th of JULY is one of my FAVORITES!!

There are so many things I like about this holiday. I love the picnics, parades, fact that there is usually water involved, and fireworks. But I especially love this holiday for what it represents even more. I truly believe we live in the best country in the world. And it was the courage of those men and women so many years ago that made it possible. I use this holiday to also celebrate and remember the men & women have served our country, many have even given their lives. When we the people hold strong to the Lord's laws He will bless this country, of that I have no doubt. 

GOD BLESS THE USA

This is also a holiday of tradition for my family.  Here is our annual schedule of events.

• Bradley Street Parade
• Children's Parade
• Time for remembering our Veterans complete with the playing of "Taps"
• lunch in the street
• Lake house for a day of fun in the sun
• Fireworks at dark, also at the lake house

I look forward to this EVERY year. I LOVE to see the children dressed up in red, white, and blue riding their bikes, strollers, and scooter!  I get CHILLS every time I hear "Taps"! And I LOVE the food. 

   This all sounds fun, right? Well, this year we missed it, being that we were four hours away.... I was really bummed. If I remember right this was only the second time in the past eleven years that we didn't attend. The only other time was when we brought Brant home for the hospital on July 3rd. (I thought about it then) I just knew we wouldn't have much fun, but we did! 

    We woke up that morning and decided to go to the 4th of July parade in Bellaire, Texas. We got to the parade site very easily and found wonderful parking. Then Allie threw up her entire breakfast in her car seat and all over herself!! (I prayed for patience...) Jason was able to clean it up because there was a water hose right by and I packed an extra outfit for Allie. (I can only credit the Lord for me packing her an extra outfit). So we were able to watch the parade in time and it was so good. Brant got an entire bag of candy!! 

    We then decided to go to the community pool for a swim. We braced ourselves for the crowd and tried to remember we could have a good time no matter how many people were packed into the pool like sardines. Well, we got there and there was NO crowd!! They even had an extra inflatable water slide set up for the kids to enjoy and boy did they! We bough barbecue plates and took them home for dinner. 

    Then it started to rain. I was disappointed to find out that the community fireworks were canceled. The kids weren't so we just went to the firework stand and bought some small stuff for the kids, sparklers, smoke bombs, and Mexican flowers. Well we invited our neighbors over and the kids had a great time! Then our neighbor brought out a HUGE box of fireworks. I had my own personal show. 

IT ENDED UP BEING A GREAT DAY!!

 The girls had matching outfits before the throw-up accident. See Allie face :(

Big kids at the parade.

 

 Lilly Girl

 We also made (aka dump out of the box and place on cookie sheet) Flag cookies

 Allie had enough outfits to last the week and it was ok by this mommy ;) 

Sweet Brant

B.A.S

BRANT IS 10!!

My baby boy, Brant, turned 10 years old on the June 30th. Wow, how fast time goes by when you are having fun! Brant had a birthday weekend. We meet some of our good friends in Galveston Friday night and went camping. (Actually Mom, Dad, and Lilly meet the three oldest kids who were with our friends. The kids had been gone for 10days!) We had a great time swimming, beaching, and crab hunting. We came home Saturday afternoon and everyone went to bed early. Then we got up on Sunday and spent the day celebrating this special boy. Brant picked out where we had lunch, and he pick was a good one. Olive Garden it was!! Brant loves fried calamari, stuffed mushrooms, salad, and their chicken fettuccine alfredo. After a great meal we went back to the house. The kids played while I took a nap, this was also my first night shift in ages. Then we had cake and ice cream. Brant is really into Pokémon right now so that was his cake and his favorite ice cream is chocolate chip cookie dough. I have better picture on my camera but couldn't get them crossed over so these are from my phone.

 Brant at Olive Garden

 LOVE THIS BOY

Brant with is birthday cake :)

Brant is such a sweet loving boy. It is easy to tell from his smile. Brant has such a calm personality. He loves to read and it is not surprising that he will finish his chapter book the very same day he picks it out from the library! If given a task to do Brant will do it to the very best of his ability. Can you say dream home school child?! Brant is really into Pokémon and Baybaldes at the moment. He also spends a lot of time playing soccer with our neighbors Marco and Lorenzo. It is hard to think it has been 10 years since the day you were born. I couldn't be happier to be your mother. I love you from your head to your toes.

Lillian's report

Lilly Grace turned 7 months old in June and just days later learned how to roll over!! This is a big accomplishment for any baby, but even more when you have waited 7 months for it. Our pediatrician Dr. A wanted to follow up to rule out any orthopedic problem so we had a appointment with a doctor in Katy, TX at Texas Children's Hospital. Everything checked out PERFECT and that was an answer to prayer. Lilly is such a happy baby that I am sure a brace/cast wouldn't have upset her, but I am sure glad she didn't have to go through that. She weighed 26 pounds :) My baby girl keeps growing up!

 I didn't get a picture of her rolling over, but this is from that day :)

Sorry for the blurry image

I love the great state of TEXAS! This was outside the hospital. The hospital was so organized and had friendly staff that it made our appointment really easy.

Sweet Summertime

Watermelon, Swimming and Long Days....... Yes, summer is here!

 

      We started the season with a trip to the beach. Well we went on a road trip, but we never made it to the beach. It was the Sunday before memorial day when we loaded up in the car. Man were we making awesome time, until the 5 mile marker. Yes, only 5 miles between up and the water and the cars were at a dead stop! When we finally made it to state trooper and asked for an approximate time frame he said 3.5-4 hours!! It was then that we turned to car around. We came back home and tried out the community pool. It was not what our original plans were, but it turned out to be a nice day. The only pictures I got that day were of Lilly Grace. The next day we went back to the pool because the kids had such a good time.

 Miss Lilly Grace at the pool

Allie Joy in an outfit from Keke

 

    The next adventure we took was going up to Athens to spend the week visiting family and celebrating my baby brother's graduation!!! Gogo is my favorite (only) brother and an awesome uncle to my four babies. It is hard to believe he is 18. I still see him as a little boy running around the house in his Batman costume. My grandparents also came down from Illinois to celebrate. It is always nice to have them down. I didn't get any pictures, but I will make up for it in September when we go and visit for my great-grandmother's 99th birthday!

 Cater Elliot Eugene Harraid

 

My big little brother 

 

Brock, Lilly, Carter, Brant, & Allie

 



We spent the weekend before Carter's graduation at the lake house. Everyone has a happy place and this is definitely one of mine.

LOVE

The kids had a great time playing in the water and visiting with friends/family.

The next picture melt my heart. Tanner and Allie are cousins that share an extra neat bond. Yes, there are times when they pick on each other, but most of the time they are like this.

 Precious

 

 

LGS

Lillian Grace is 6 months old today!!

Sweet baby girl

She is such an easy and happy baby. Everyone here is in love with her. She doesn't have a doctor appointment for a few more weeks so I don't know length and I would guess she weighs 23-24 pounds. She has had baby cereal, organic peas, and organic carrots. (She has only had peas once and carrots twice, but does pretty well with her cereal.) She hasn't rolled over yet, but being that she is a big girl that isn't unusual. Or it could be due to the fact she is always in someone's arms. She can almost sit up by herself. She loves to grab things especially Allie's hair :) She is also learning how to throw a fit. It is pretty cute to watch. Her favorite game is peek-a-boo! I love to hear her laugh when we play it. She has a little bear that plays it and Lilly will laugh every time.  Here is a day in the life of Lilly:

 

6:00 wake up and nurse then go back to sleep

7:00-8:00 wake up for the morning

9:30 nurse and then nap

11:00 up to play

1:30 nurse and then nap

3:30-4:30 up to nurse and play

5:30 sometimes has cereal while we eat dinner

7:00 nurse and then 30 min cat nap

8:00 bath time

9:30 nurse and then usually go to sleep about 10 or 10:30

 

 I love to see how Allie and her are growing close and I pray that they will be best friends forever.

 

This is an older picture, but I love it!

 

We thank God for Lilly Grace. She truly completes our family. 

 

 

 

 



 





We have had a fun week of learning at the Stukas household!

The boys studied Astronomy this year using Apologia's Exploring Creation Through Astronomy.

 



Brock & Brant enjoyed the book and the experiments we did throughout the year. We made volcanoes erupt, constellations appear on the wall, built Lego models of the International Space Center and ended the year with a trip to NASA Space Center Houston! The boys also made notebooks but they will tell you that wasn't what they enjoyed most. Next year I am going to purchase the notebooks published by Apologia, maybe they will like that better. Here are a few pictures of our trip yesterday.

The kids on the tram tour. We viewed the actual astronaut training facility.

Brock and his model of the International Space Center



 

 



 



We also celebrated Chocolate Chip Day with Chocolate Chip Pancakes for breakfast and Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert. My good friend Lacey told me to roll the extra dough into a log so that I can freeze it and make slice and bake cookies.Brant and Allie helped make them and everyday helped devour them :)

We also went to the library by our house for the first time. They have a great children's section. The boys each picked out a book on dinosaurs and then I picked out some books on Lewis and Clark. Lewis & Clark started their Journey on May 14th and that is the day we started our two week history lesson on their adventure. Allie, Lilly and I went to the preschool story time. Allie listened to a few books and then made a craft. She really enjoyed it! I wish I would have taken a picture of the lantern she made :( I did however get a picture of the kids before we read Bread and Jam for Frances. Allie loves this series and since Saturday was Lillian Hoban's birthday we rented this book from the library. Lillian Hoban is